Padraig Harrington 17/1

Don’t be too concerned about Podge’s 98th last week in Singapore. I have a feeling he’ll do a shade better this week. After good signs in Portugal (16th), Harrington made the most of his invite to the Grand Slam Of Golf where he bagged a much sought after win. A three time winner in Asia, including here in late 2003, don’t discount the only backable Irishman. Rory McIlroy is as low as 4/1 on several markets.

Marcus Fraser 65/1

Since tying for second at the Omega European Masters in September, Marcus Fraser has travelled to Holland, Malaysia, China and Singapore without a hint of missing a cut. Just missing the spark to bring him into contention, the Aussie has a very solid recent record here with three top 11’s in the three of the past four stagings (T11-2011, 10th-2010, T7-2008).

Simon Dyson 40/1

It has been a horrid year for Simon with only one top 10 to show for his efforts. Two wins and six more top 10’s during the 2011 season however tell me not to give up hope. Dyson plied his trade in Asia early in his career and actually won this event in 2000 pre sanctioning by the European Tour. Since then his best was a tie for second in 2010, just behind Ian Poulter. Simon played well for two rounds in Singapore and was tied fifth before fading during the final 36 in the stop start conditions. Could figure this week.

Gregory Bourdy 46/1

Returned last week in Singapore after a four week break. Bourdy has been very solid on Tour since July, finishing eight consecutive tournaments under par and with a best of third at the Italian Open. The Frenchman is a past winner here, holding off Rory McIlroy impressively in 2009 and 10 of his last 12 rounds here have been in the 60’s. Certainly worth a fiver each way.

Best Of The Rest

Like his favourite team Man United, Chris Wood 65/1 has been impressive of late and due a big week. Wood has often posted on twitter details of the work and practice he’s been putting in of late and it showed in Singpore where he tied seventh, even after a one over final round. A confidence player, expect another good showing this week.

Juvic Pagunsan 75/1 of the Philippines had a mare at the weekend last week and will be available at super long odds in Hong Kong. He came tenth here last season but showed strongly on the greens where he finished tied second in the stats. Also nearly won here in Novmeber 2006 when Jose Manuel Lara nicked him by one. Also notable is YE Yang 40/1 who impressed last year.

I saw it on facebook again today and it was like I went from being David Bruce Banner one minute to the Incredible Hulk the next. The trigger? Tadhg Harrington mentioned he was the victim of slow play. Aw crap I’m turning green with rage.

Christ almighty, I hate being stuck behind slow golfers. The way they smirk back at you from the green on a par three, that look of utter disdain on their face as you pace around the tee box. The way they mark a four inch putt, just to piss you off. They way they drop down onto one knee to check the line of that four inch putt, all for the benefit of driving you bloody insane.

You’re getting angry now, aren’t you? They’ve just spent ten minutes shuffling around tap-ins, and you’re about to blow a head gasket. “Come on to fluck lads.” They all stop and turn around. Oops! That hasn’t helped things.

And just when the flag is put back in and you think there’s an actual glimmer of hope of getting this bloody hole played today, you notice it. One of them has left his bag on the front left of the green, even though the feckin’ tee is way over behind the green on the right. Aw shite!

You watch him trudge slowly all the way across the front of the green to pick up the mouldy bag with ‘HIPPO’ on it. “Look at him he even can’t walk right lads.” All sense of normal human compassion and reasoning has now gone. The red mist has descended. He’s got those paedo glasses that go from clear to dark brown when the sun shines. Hang on, is that a friggin’ pair of jeans he’s wearing? It damn well is and the wet rough has caused the water to come all the way up to his knees like friggin’ capillary action we learned in school. And why is he wearing an office shirt out golfing even though its like minus two degrees? Jesus, I’m never putting my name on the timesheet behind tools like these again. You make bogey, it’s all his fault. “How am I supposed to get into a rhythm looking at that crap?”

Forty minutes and two holes later, all four of the buggers have hit balls into the water on front of the 10th green. No bloody surprise there. “Let’s play right up their holes lads, they’ll have to let us through.”

Paedo man has a fishing rod ball scooper thing. Imagine, he had to go into a shop and buy that thing. No bother to him, he’s thick enough to do it too. That’s like going into a restaurant and buying a bib. Bit defeatist. Worse still, all the rest are now gathered around him admiring how shaggin’ long it extends. It takes another age to scoop out all four Molitors but then, instead of walking around to the green, tinty specs with the scooper starts to do a forensic combing of the entire perimeter of the pond. “Which side is my heart lads, I’m having a feckin’ coronary here with the stress.”

He’s stopping every couple of seconds to extract another ball. Is he for real? He’s now revealing the real reason he came out here today and it’s not to bloody well play golf. It’s to collect balls from the pond. Pissing you off is just an added bonus. You’ve seen soldiers scan fields for landmines ten times quicker.

And he’s probably got the brand new Pro V1 you hit in there last week by now. The thought of that hayseed playing with your ball. It’s golf rape by a tinty paedo.

All I know is this, Pat Perez speaks his mind and whether you agree or disagree with him, at least you know what you’re getting. Pat says he didn’t actually post this tweet himself two days ago; he says his account was “hacked”. Hmmm!

Then this morning this is what we wake up to.

Well that’s sad news. There were of exasperated and dejected American’s around yesterday on social media lamenting the prospect of four more years of tactics. But every has a silver lining and these guys below were celebrating yesterday at an impending delivery.

Even though Jack Nicklaus himself promised to give Mitt Romney golf lessons, the American people have spoken today and expressed their fervent wish to continue watching Barack Obama hack it around for four more years.

President Obama overcame concerns about a weak grip and a fragile economic recovery shot to soundly defeat Romney. "We've got more work to do on my golf game," Obama declared, on front of a cheering crowd at his victory rally in Chicago early Wednesday morning.

In his victory speech Obama conceded that his game isn’t at the level promised four years ago but vowed that “progress will come in fits and starts.”

“While the round has been long and we’ve used the porta-loos a lot, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back to level par and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America, I get two shots on every hole,” the clearly fired-up president told the crowd.

“I made Osama Bin Laden take two shots in a bunker and won that match,” the President proclaimed to a standing ovation.

Romney conceded shortly after midnight, and said he would “pray that the president will be successful in holing more putts on the White House putting green.” The former Massachusetts governor urged Washington's politicians to set aside the “bickering over tap ins” and “political posturing to decide who drives off first” going forward.

“This round is over for me, I won’t get to play with Jack, and Obama cant play for jack but our principles endure,” Romney said.

Resident’s of Virginia, Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Michigan, known as the Swing States, voted to stick with Obama’s dodgy but experienced swing instead of Romney’s totally untried swing. Many analysts agree that had Romney revealed his swing prior to the election it could have been a much closer battle.

Brendon de Jonge 14/1

It’s start number 150 for the South African this week and one of the stars in a field bereft of many of the top names. Brendon hasn’t been outside the top four in his last three starts with a best of runner up at The Shriners a few weeks back. His scoring average of 70.06 is the best in the field.

Charles Howell 25/1

Charles seems to be finding a bit of late season form after a tied seventh at the McGladrey and a tied 11th at the Frys. Knows the place inside out having had 11 starts in this tournament. Top tenned in 2006 and 2010.

Tommy Gainey 33/1

After his success on the Big Break TV show Two Gloves got a start here in 2008 and he certainly made the most of it with a second place finish behind Davis Love. Gainey shot a 60 in his final round last time out to win the McGladrey and with a week off to get grounded (though I believe he always is) Gainey might just fancy another big payday at Disney.

Davis Love 40/1

Does Captain Love have one more win in him? Well, judging by his tied fourth at The McGladrey, he just might. And if Love is to win, this is the most likely place is here with the easy Palm course in play before the cut. Love mastered the layout in 2008 and has six more top fives down the years to be the all time money winner here.

Justin Leonard 80/1

This week is the last event of the fall series and all eyes will be on the guys at 125 or lower on the money list as they are fighting for their Tour lives. Justin Leonard finds himself at 138th on the list and under serious pressure to perform. But he can be reassured by the fact that he tied second in two of the last three stagings. Leonard’s last win came in 2008 at the Stanford St Jude and his form of late has been woeful (with the exception of a good first round 64 at The Shriners) but desperate times require desperate measures.

Nike have revealed their new red crown VR_S Covert Performance and VR_S Covert Tour drivers. The ‘Performance’ version features a 460cc head and silver face, while the ‘Tour’ edition, has a 430cc head, black face and a non adjustable weight plug on the sole.

The most striking feature of the club is on the sole where a chunk of the back-middle has been taken away, almost like a perimeter weighted putter head. I’m sure that because all the weight is now in the heel and toe (or wings) we will hear a big play about the driver’s increased Moment Of Inertia, or resistance to twist at impact as a result.

Unlike other drivers, the centre of gravity in the Nike’s Covert driver simply cannot be placed low and back, because there is no low and back on this club. This more forward placed CG will mean the Covert flies on a lower, more penetrating trajectory favoured by pros and better players.

The Nike Covert driver features an adjustable hosel that lets you change the face angle to right, left or neutral and also allows the loft to be adjusted between between 8.5° and 12.5°.

Legendary golf pro Jim Flick, teacher to some of the world’s top players and millions of amateurs through golf magazines and TV lessons has passed away aged 82.

Flick worked at Desert Mountain in Arizona but was known worldwide having associations with Golf Digest and ESPN. He famously also became teacher to Jack Nicklaus in 1990 after the death of Jack’s longtime coach Jack Grout.

Flick won several accolades through his teaching career including being inducted into the World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame in 2002. His winning most pupil during his prime was Tom Lehman, with whom he didn’t try to enforce a perfect swing. “The golf swing is an athletic movement. Becoming mechanical and robotic is the worst thing you can do,” Flick said.

Coincidentally Lehman retained the Schwab Cup two days ago and paid tribute to Mr Flick. The last hole, I know that he was probably watching today," Lehman said. "I felt quite certain that that was probably the last driver he was ever going to see me hit and I wanted to make it a good one. And the last 7-iron he will ever see me hit, and I wanted to make that a good one. And the last putt, and I wanted to make that putt. I didn't want to make it simply because I want to win by six. I wanted to make it for him."

Louis Oosthuizen 12/1

With Rory McIlroy in to 5/1 for this week, it’s hard to see any value there. However Louis Oosthuizen at 12/1 is worth sticking with this week. Why? Two top sixes in his last two events, the BMW Masters and the WGC HSBC Champions bring his haul for the year to 10 top-10’s. That also includes two wins in Africa and Malaysia and I think Louis has the game to make it three in Singapore. GIR merchants regularly feature here and so it proved last year when Louis tied third hitting 87% of his greens in regulation. Had it not been reduced to 54 holes due to thunderstorms who knows how he would have fared as he followed his opening 72 with rounds of 63 and 65. I think there’s a bit of finished business here this week for Shrek.

Adam Scott 10/1

If there’s a King of the Serapong Adam Scott surely has to be it. The Aussie has been supporting this event since it was played on the Asian Tour and is a three time winner here in total. That last victory came in 2010 when he beat Anders Hansen by three shots. Tied for eighth again last week in the WGC after two top10’s in the PGA Tour playoffs, Scott is loitering with intent. He revealed this week that he thinks he’ll be just as good with the short putter should an anchoring ban be announced, but for this week expect to see plenty of yards of putts being holed by Scott. He loves this place.

Fredrik Andersson Hed 90/1

Bear with me on this one. Every now and again a player catches my eye and this season it’s Freddie. He has notched up seven top-10’s to date and come close at the Johnnie Walker (3rd) and the Omega European Masters (tied 2nd). Showed well in fifth at the Alfred Dunhill Links also and after resting since Portugal could be one to watch.

Joost Luiten 70/1

When Joost Luiten got his win at the Iskandar Open most people thought he would kick on but it hasn’t quite panned out for him this season. Second at the Wales Open is the only bright spot to date in 2012 but after steady performances at the BMW Masters and WGC HSBC (26th, 36th) he’ll be looking for better this week after tying fifth last year. Long odds but worth an each way shout.

Best Of The Rest

J’be Kruger 100/1 is a talented if streaky South African. He got his win at the Avantha Masters this season and showed well at the recent CIMB Classic coming eighth. However you’ll understand what I mean by streaky when you hear he shot an 83 last week at Mission Hills! If he’s in the mood, J’be can be dangerous.

Of the local Asian Tour contingent Thaworn Wiratchant has be respected at 150/1. He won the Indian Hero Open an couple of weeks back (beating Richie ramsay in a playoff) and is a specialist on the Tanjong and Serapong. I think I’ll have a fiver each way at those odds!

With Rory McIlroy jumping ship to Nike, the last thing Callaway need is Phil Mickelson unhappy with his equipment.

Yet that seems to be case as Leftie was spotted in Mission Hills last week with a TaylorMade RocketBallz 3-wood in his bag. He arrived in China with the club and explained to senior company official during a Callaway photoshoot that his current equipment would not be suitable for the event.

Mickelson then removed his Callaway Big Bertha Diablo 3-wood with the blessing of Callaway's senior vice president of marketing, Harry Arnett.

Mickelson’s dilemma was that he needed a club that could go 290 yards off the tee (his Diablo fairway goes 275 his Razr driver goes 305) to negotiate tee shots at Mission Hills and still reach par 5’s at the event.

Arnett explained to Phil that although a prototype fairway was being readied it would not be available to him for several weeks and that he should “play whatever you want” to get a victory. Mickelson then produced the TaylorMade RocketBallz 3-wood complete with a matt black finish to attempt to deflect any attention.

Mickelson now has no Callaway fairway woods in his bag having already taken out a Callaway RAZR Fit 5-wood and replaced it with a 2003 Titleist 980F. Would a win for Phil this week in Singapore be good or bad for Callaway?

Before the ink had even time to dry on the deal Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods having completed filming of their Nike TV commercial. The shoot took place last week and sees McIlroy and Woods on the practice range with the new Nike “Threat Identified” driver. The pair are also joined by new stablemates Kyle Stanley and Nick Watney.

The commercial has Woods and McIlroy verbally jousting about how far they are hitting the club. It is set to air in January 2013.

ODYSSEY INTRODUCES PREMIUM LINE OF PROTYPE BLACK PUTTERS
1025 Carbon Steel Milled Putters Offer Stealth Look, Unmatched Feel in Tour-Proven Models
Callaway today introduced the new Odyssey ProType Black, a line of milled, carbon steel putters crafted for the best players in the world. The ProType Black line features heads with a black PVD finish, black powder coat steel shafts, and a black, seamless grip giving the premium collection a distinctively stealth look. The 1025 Carbon Steel designs incorporate feedback from hundreds of Tour professionals around the world and offer an unprecedented integration of look, sound and feel.

Rickie Fowler declared on twitter it was “go time” before heading off with friends trick or treating around his neighbourhood in Jupiter, Florida last night. Fowler, dressed as a young Rickie Fowler in Guantanamo orange was equipped with an empty Puma bag for collecting goodies.

“We had a swell time,”said Fowler “I reckon the contents of my trick or treat bag are worth more than I made on Tour all year when you take away caddie wages, management fees and expenses. I might do this professionally.”

Unfortunately for Fowler, Halloween or “The Paedophile’s Christmas” as it is also known, happens only once a year, thus making the proposition of making it a profession, financially unviable.

“One or two houses tried to fob us off with apples,” Fowler said before adding, “If I wanted fruit, I’d go to the supermarket. Those b*stards should know better. If I’m going to all the effort to call to them, they should be stocked up with chocolate, like mini Snickers as well as having fizzy drinks and candy. And don’t even get me started on the people who pretended no-one was home when we called. We could see them moving inside.”

Fowler is set to appear again at a fancy dress party in Bubba Watson’s house on New Year’s Eve.

Having already offered Rory McIlroy a mountain of cash, a blue European Tour hoodie and his own X-box game, Tour chief George O’Grady has dangled one more carrot in front of the World number one; his pride and joy, his cereal bowl.

“I’m offering Rory my cereal bowl,” O’Grady told reporters today adding, “It’s by Clarice Cliff and I know it’s very valuable because someone on Antiques Roadshow had one worth £5,000 and that one had a hairline crack. My one’s pristine, I keep it in a velvet case and dry it with a piece of kitchen roll to stop bacteria from the dirty tea towel getting on there.”

The bowl dates back to the 1920’s when the young O’Grady in short pants was presented with it by his father after shooting some Tigers and an intruder on their estate in India. “Dad promised he would get me my own bowl when I killed Tony The Tiger and Tony The Trespasser,” O’Grady recalled. “I was so happy listening to the Snap Crackle and Pop of the slaves being whipped as I ate my cereal from my new bowl.”

A statement is expected later from McIlroy’s management company on whether or not he will accept the offer.

This just in from the Acushnet company aka Titleist who have announced they will not extend their relationship after this year.

"Our goal has been to provide Rory with the best equipment and service that would help him be the best player he could possibly be," Acushnet chief executive Wally Uihlein said. "He has been a great ambassador for the Titleist and FootJoy brands, and in turn, we are proud of how our equipment has contributed to his success. We wish Rory all the best, both personally and professionally, going forward."

"I will always appreciate the contribution Titleist has made in helping me become the player I am today," McIlroy said.

The world number is now free to take up a reported deal to become a Nike Golf ambassador worth $250million (£156m) over the next ten years.

In a last ditch attempt to save Rory McIlroy from a big money move to Nike, Oakley have sacked their clinically depressed top designer responsible for all his outfits for the past two seasons.

The media became aware something was amiss when McIlroy showed up for a match with Tiger Woods yesterday in a sweater that didn’t suck.

"We’ve basically got rid of the guy who dressed Rory like a cross between a Polo player and a chef with a sprinkling of leprechaun for the past two years” said a senior Oakley official, holding back tears as he spoke. “We’re Goddamn sunglasses makers for Christ’s sake, how were we to know that our designers 10 years previous employment experience with Oxfam was a bad thing?”

Oakley have two months left on McIlroy’s back to prove all their polo shirts do not look like the Peru football strip and that all their trousers don’t resemble grannies tea towel.

Even Tiger Woods was complimentary of McIlroy’s new look as he was overheard saying during their match, “Hey Rory I love your f*cking clothes today, you don’t look like a f*cking homeless person.”

Very interesting if “blink and you will miss it” moment during the Tiger Woods versus Rory McIlroy match in China today.

While many say Rory is bound to move to Nike when his Titleist contract expires at the end of the season, others are not convinced.

Today however Tiger and Rory were fitted with microphones and they talked equipment. After hitting off the fourth, McIlroy took Tiger’s Nike iron and had a couple of practice swings with it. Tiger also told Rory about the Nike golf ball and the technical aspects of the spin rates.

Luke Donald 12/1

Did we see Luke flexing those putting muscles again in Shanghai last week? I think we did. It’s hard to fathom how Donald keeps up with the power hitters of the modern game, then you look at his form; third at the Tour Championship, third again last week. Topping scrambling and putting stats you just know he’ll be in contention every step of the way this week. A best of tied third at the HSBC Champions in 2010. This 7,300 yard Mission Hills course should be well within his compass.

Louis Oosthuizen 23/1

Although Louis couldn’t match the firepower of Hanson and McIlroy in Shanghai last week his tied sixth cameo was enough to make me sit up and take notice. A renowned late season performer Oosthuizen played well in this event last year (at Sheshan), especially on the Friday when a 63 catapulted him into contention. In the end he tied for seventh. I give Louis a great chance.

Ian Poulter 20/1

Ian made us some money last with his fourth place finish from 28/1 in Shanghai and expect another good performance this week. As we said last week two of his eight wins have come in Asia and he has tied for 13th in this event on his last two visits. Poults will be absolutely delighted the tournament is moving to Mission Hills; in it’s three years as host of the World Cup from 2007 to 2009 Poulter represented England on each occasion, never finishing outside the top four. Poults was paired with Justin Rose in 2007 and 2008 and with Ross Fisher in 2009.

Adam Scott 22/1

You won’t find Adam Scott’s name in the top 10 from last year but the facts are that for three days last year he played all the golf before a Sunday 73 dropped him into a tie for 11th. Though without a win in 2012 and under heavy scrutiny from the media for his Open performance I still think two top 7’s in the PGA Tour playoffs make Scott a very backable player this week on these true Mission Hills greens suited to the long putter. Until they’re banned that is.

Lee Westwood 19/1

A very similar story to that of Adam Scott last year in that his final standing of tied 13th was due to a move in the wrong direction with a final round 74. Westwood may not be the force he was a couple of years back when he and Francesco Molinari battled it out but last Sunday’s 66 in Shanghai proves he still has the class. Tight odds but the bookies know what they are doing.

Best Of The Rest

Graeme McDowell was a solid and efficient third last year and was a steady 11th last week. He can be got at odds of around 32/1 on betfair. GMac and Rory played together on this track for Ireland in the 2009 Omega Mission Hills World Cup tying for second behind brothers Francesco and Edoardo Molinari. Indeed they should have won but for a poor final day. It's a straight drivers course and should suit a refreshed GMac more than Sheshan.

Those looking for some long odds glory might again look to Scott Richie Ramsay who has drifted to 100/1 after struggling badly in China last week. He remains one to watch for me though having already tied third in 2010. If he’s in the mood he can steamroller the rest as we saw in Switzerland last month. Thaworn Wiratchant, the man who beat Ramsay in a playoff in India two weeks ago is 240/1 on betfair! Take your pick.

After months of bitter opposition to the placing of controversial wind turbines one mile from the site of his Trump International Golf Links, Donald Trump, on a visit to Scotland, has done a dramatic U-Turn and is now giving them his blessing.

Apparently clever people in Scotland came with a new design that Trump immediately took too. Each blade now features a 40 foot portrait of The Apprentice star. It’s thought the hot air created in each head will greatly boost the energy output.

Donald said today “I love wind turbines, especially these ones. They are really super to look at. And hey who needs seagulls anyway? All they do is crap on people. And all that stuff about them being noisy, I just made that up. Everybody knows you cant hear anything other than the sound of rain beating against your face when golfing in Scotland. As for the new turbines, I’ve commissioned one hundred of these beauties.

Update 10 January 2013
These are the first pics of Rory’s actual Nike equipment for 2013. Taken at The Els Club in Dubai where Rory was practicing.
Thanks to David Voller who happened to be walking past and snapped a pic of Rory’s new Nike clubs and there, pride of place was his trusty Scotty Cameron headcover. Notice also though the Swoosh putter headcover of the Nike Method 006 Prototype in there too.
There are 15 clubs in the bag shown. Along with the Nike VR II Pro blades, it looks like Rors is also going to choose between a Pro Combo cavity back long iron, a 3 and 5 fairway wood. Also there are 46, 50 and 54 “Rors” stamped wedges. The Nike Covert driver is also in the bag.
I’ve been doing Rory’s what’s in the bag since he turned pro so am really delighted to have got the first look at this.

Nike will officially unveil Rory McIlroy as their staffer on the Monday 14th January at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship where both Rory and Tiger Woods are in the field.

The 2013 has come too soon for Nike to develop a Rory range. I’ve shown his old and new clubs in direct comparison.
To purchase any of the clubs below new or pre-owned click here to visit the Golfbidder website

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